6.5 KiB
| title | date | score | howlongtobeat_id | howlongtobeat_hrs | game_name | game_genre | game_release_year | game_developer | tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Looney Tunes Carrot Crazy: Eh, What's Up Game Boy Color? | 2023-04-22T14:09:00+02:00 | 2 | 30465 | 1.6 | Looney Tunes: Carrot Crazy | 2D platformer | 2000 | VD-dev |
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In my search for decent Looney Tunes games on the Game Boy (Color) platform, I happen to come across an awful lot of bad games, especially in the year 2000, when Infogames launched their next major Looney Tunes assault called "Games for the next Mil-Looney-Um", as seen in the following splendid ad:
Although the poster is mainly advertising the brand new 3D platformer Bugs Bunny Lost in Time for the Playstation, and some small entries on the Nintendo 64 on the lower right, handheld lovers aren't left behind. I've played through Speedy Gonzales' Aztec Adventure (bad), the Looney Tunes Collector Pokémon rip-offs (surprisingly good), and a questionable Racing game, all either licensed and published by the Japanese Sunsoft or the French Infogames.
And then I encountered Marcus Huderle’s Reverse Engineering Carrot Crazy blog posts (see password hacking Sylvester & Tweety), and I knew I wasn't yet done with the Looney Tunes GB(C) games. The question is: is this 2D platformer worth the few hours of game time, or is this yet another bust?
The answer lies somewhere in-between. Carrot Crazy isn't actually developed by Infogames but by the French duo Fernando Velez and Guillaume Dubail who were known for other licensed Game Boy projects such as The Smurfs, Lucky Luke, and later the Asterix & Obelix XXL GBA port. In Carrot Crazy, where you can switch between Bugs and Lola on the fly, you run around in two stages and a boss stage for each of the five film scenes, collecting carrots and four pieces of director clapper board to get to the next stage. Its mechanics are fairly conventional, and although there's the odd push-a-block or ride-a-rhino-to-cross-the-water affair, I felt the overall (level) design to be bland and uninspired.
Even Sunsoft's original 1992 Looney Tunes comes with a lot more variety. Eight years later, what we're left with is a visually and aurally very impressive game, with beautiful big sprite work and as much colors slathered on there as possibly could: bear in mind that this was one of those black Game Boy cartridges, which is still compatible with the original Grey Brick. Sylvester & Tweety already followed this model in 1998, but Carrot Crazy clearly pulls all stops here. It's a beautiful game to look at, and each film scene comes with its own unique theme and color scheme.
The same can be said for the music: its 8-bit chiptune-like soundtrack is surprisingly good for an average French licensed late GBC era game! I wish the same could be said for its basic gameplay though. It now feels a bit out of proportion: the basic run-and-grab gameplay and simple level design doesn't neatly match the game's presentation layer.
Each scene ends with a boss chase and fight stage where the boss controls some form of a giant vehicle coming from the right of the screen. If you successfully avoid all obstacles along the way, the boss steps out and you'll have to fight them. Bugs Bunny equips a hammer, and Lola a rolling pin---how sexist---which make short work of the bosses. There's zero challenge involved and all patterns are the same. It's pretty to look at, but that's about it. The chase scene acts as a fun diversion but after a second time, the novelty wears off.
In-between stages, you'll get the chance to score a lvl-up if you collect all letters of the word "EXTRA" that Tweety flies away with, provided you win a dynamite throwing minigame. There's only one minigame and it's pretty mundane (and easy). Again, the graphical effects are stellar, with multiple virtual panes shifting faster or slower to create the illusion of depth which works quite well here. But again, who cares if the basic gameplay is rather boring?
Sure, there's a purpose in switching between Lola and Bugs: Lola has an umbrella that's needed to jump down from high places, as Bugs would simply fall face first and waste a life---which annoyingly happens a lot, even for short distances. Bugs on the other hand can push obstacles and dig underground---a feat needed in only a handful of levels.
I felt a bit sorry for Carrot Crazy. It's clear that the art and music is superb and superior compared to other early noughties GBC games: listen and judge for yourself---I especially recommend BGM #05! The music was once again provided by the masterful Bit Managers, the team that also did the music for the Collector and Tweety games.
Carrot Crazy's 2D platforming doesn't only play safe, even though the controls feel good, but the levels are short, bland, and feel uninspired. IGN's review mirrors my feelings: back in the day, this would have been one of the "better" ones:
Overall, Carrot Crazy doesn't really push the jump'n'run genre to new heights, but all the gameplay elements are in the right place to form a great gaming experience. The game's music [...] is worth special mention as the sound designers tried to push the envelope [...]. Not to be confused with the many uninspired Looney Tunes Game Boy games out there, this one is well worth a look.
Yes, this one is better than the average Looney Tunes game, but the average is pretty bad anyway, so where does that leave us? Average? If you love big 8-bit spritework with a dab of Gaugin-like color, or if you enjoy typical Game Boy chiptunes, I'd still say it's worth to Get Crazy about those Carrots.